Rochester, N.Y.- The flu is spreading and it’s spreading fast.
John Ricci, with the Monroe County Health Department, said year to date, there are slightly more than 900 confirmed flu cases in Monroe County and the true number could be even higher.
Ricci said that’s because a lot of people don’t go to the doctor and some doctors do not report the cases because they just start treatment.
Ricci also said with this level of flu activity, so early, this is a high flu season and we normally don’t see these numbers peak until late January and February.
We also have not seen this many cases so early since the H1N1 strain in 2009.
Last year at this time, there were less than 10 cases in Monroe County.
The health department is encouraging people to still get their flu shots.
13WHAM’s Alexis Arnold is following this story and will also check in with health departments in other local counties about the number of flu cases they are seeing.
